Bellsprout
Quality Control 2/2 (macle, Crux)
Grammar/Prose 0/2
[Overview]
<p> With sunlight playing a big role in the Little Cup environment, Bellsprout makes many appearances as one of the top sun sweepers in the metagame. Its ability, Chlorophyll, doubles its speed during sunshine. This allows it to outspeed any non-Scarfed Pokemon. The main thing that sets it apart from other sun sweepers is that it has a high attack, which makes it the only physical sun sweeper, and also the only sun sweeper to effectively run a mixed set. On the contrary, it has lower defenses and therefore is easily KOed if it does not KO the opposing pokemon first. Bellsprout is a strong addition to any sun team and is an unpredictable sweeper.</p>
[SET]
name: Sun Abuser
move 1: SolarBeam
move 2: Sludge Bomb
move 3: Sleep Powder / Growth
move 4: Weatherball / Hidden Power Fire
item: Life Orb
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Modest / Timid
EVs: 36 HP / 196 SpA / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>There are two things to abuse on any sun team: Chlorophyll and SolarBeam. The common sun sweepers all have this in common, and Bellsprout shares that as well. Chlorophyll doubles Bellsprout’s low Speed, which only reaches 13 with a Modest nature. After the boost from Chlorophyll, Bellsprout reaches 26 Speed. SolarBeam is a beautiful 120 base power STAB attack that does not need the extra turn of charging up when the sun is strong. The best way for Bellsprout to deal with its counters is to put them to sleep; Sleep Powder works well despite shaky accuracy. The other slots go to rounding off coverage, because SolarBeam doesn’t hit everything by itself. Sludge Bomb is a secondary STAB attack which hits many things for neutral damage. Weatherball also abuses sunlight and becomes a 100 base power Fire attack and hits Tesshiido and Magnemite who would otherwise wall the set. Due to its frailty, the best item to use is a Life Orb, which adds to the destructive power of this set.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The choice of nature is not a huge difference. Modest is preferred because of the extra power. The extra Speed is only useful for outrunning Scarfers, who can threaten Bellsprout due to its low defenses. The difference in the natures is 17 Special Attack and 13 Speed with Modest nature, and 16 Special Attack and 14 Speed with a Timid nature. After the Chlorophyll boost, it reaches 26 or 28 Speed, the later being a Timid nature. Growth is an attack that can be used to raise Special Attack further, hitting 25 after 1 boost. It is used over Sleep Powder because other common sun Pokemon, such as Vulpix or Exeggcute, will activate Sleep Clause with Hypnosis and Sleep Powder respectively. This lets Bellsprout use Growth on the switch. Hidden Power Ice can be used to hit Gligar, who can easily withstand Bellsprout’s other attacks and KO back with Earthquake. Hidden Power Fire can be used over Weatherball for a Fire attack that will not change type when the weather switches. Vulpix sets Bellsprout up with its Drought ability. Hippopotas and Snover both cancel the sun out, and change the weather to Sandstorm and Hail respectively. Snover can be hit on the switch with Sludge Bomb however. A Water or Ice type special attacker will alleviate Bellsprout of Hippopotas.</p>
[SET]
name: Swords Dance Sweeper
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Sleep Powder
move 3: Seed Bomb
move 4: Sucker Punch
item: Life Orb
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Adamant / Jolly
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Chlorophyll doubles speed in sunlight and reaches 26 with an Adamant nature
- Sucker Punch gives priority which lets Bellsprout hit Scarfers who outspeed it
- Reaches 28 Attack with an Adamant nature after a Swords Dance
- Can put counter to sleep
- A Jolly nature will add one point of Speed (two after Chlrophyll activates) at the cost of one Attack
- Resists Water and Fighting priority attacks
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Growth
move 2: Weatherball
move 3: Seed Bomb / SolarBeam
move 4: Sucker Punch
item: Life Orb
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Naive
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 SpA / 196 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Chlorophyll will double Bellsprout's Speed in Sunshine, reaching 28 total
- SolarBeam does not need to charge during Sunshine
- Growth will raise both of Bellsprout's attacking stats letting it attack both physically and specially and making it hard to wall
- Sucker Punch gives Bellsprout a priority attack
- Its Attack and Special Attack stats are 17 and 14 respectively before a Growth and 25 and 21 after a Growth
- Either a Naughty or Rash nature can be used to boost Attack or Special Attack respectively by one point at the cost of one Speed
- Resists Water and Fighting priority attacks
- An alternate EV spread of 76 Atk / 196 SpA / 196 Spe can be used to boost the special attacks
- If the alternate EV spread is used, its Attack and Special Attack stats are 15 and 16 respectively before a Growth and 22 and 24 after a Growth
- Entry Hazards support greatly help Bellsprout sweep
- Bellsprout is a fantastic late game sweeper when the enemy team and its counters are weakened
- It can act as a revenge killer by using Sucker Punch against weaker opponents
- On special sets, Hidden Power Ice is the best option for dealing with Gligar
- Bellsprout does learn PowerWhip but it is illegal with Sucker Punch
- Hippopotas counters every set due to changing the weather to Sandstorm, he can also tank physical hits and threaten back with Earthquake as Bellsprout has weak defences
- Snover also counters every set by changing the weather to Hail, he is commonly Scarfed and with OHKO Bellsprout with Blizzard
- Magnemite counters the physical set and any special set that does not have a Fire attack
- If Bellsprout has 13 speed and is in the sun, any Scarfer that has 18 Speed will reach 27 and outspeed it
- If Bellsprout has 14 speed and is in the sun, Scarfers with 19 Speed will Speed tie at 28
- Bellsprout's Dreamworld ability is Gluttony, but it is always outslcassed by Chlorophyll due to Bellsprout's low Speed when not in the sun
